RULE 3. APPEAL AS OF RIGHT—HOW TAKEN
Effective Date: 3/1/2019
Obsolete Date: 4/8/2024
(a) Filing the Notice of Appeal.
(1) An appeal permitted by law as of right from a district court to the supreme court may be taken by filing a notice of appeal with the clerk of the supreme court within the time allowed by Rule 4.
(2) An appellant's failure to take any step other than the timely filing of a notice of appeal and payment of any required docket fee does not affect the validity of the appeal, but is ground only for the supreme court to act as it considers appropriate, including dismissing the appeal.
(b) Joint or Consolidated Appeals. When two or more parties are entitled to appeal from a district court judgment or order, and their interests make joinder practicable, they may file a joint notice of appeal. They may then proceed on appeal as a single appellant. Appeals may be consolidated by order of the supreme court upon its own motion or upon motion of a party, or by stipulation of the parties to the several appeals.
(c) Content of the Notice of Appeal. The notice of appeal must:
(1) specify the party or parties taking the appeal;
(2) designate the judgment, order, or part thereof being appealed;
(3) name the court to which the appeal is taken; and
(4) include a concise preliminary statement of issues.
(d) Serving the Notice of Appeal.
(1) When a notice of appeal is filed, the clerk of the supreme court must promptly file notice of filing with the district court clerk using the Odyssey system and serve notice of the filing by sending a copy of the notice of appeal and any attachments by mail, third-party commercial carrier, or electronic means to each party's counsel of record - excluding the appellant's counsel - or, if a party is self-represented and does not have an e-mail address, to the party's last known address. The clerk of the supreme court must note on each copy the date when the notice of appeal was filed.
(2) The clerk of the supreme court's failure to serve a copy of the notice of appeal does not affect the validity of the appeal. The clerk of the supreme court must note on the docket the names of the parties to whom the clerk sends copies, and the date they were sent. Service is sufficient despite the death of a party or the party's counsel.
(3) The title of the action is not to be changed as a consequence of the appeal.
Rule 3 was amended, effective January 1, 1988; March 1, 1999; March 1, 2003; March 1, 2007; Oct 1, 2014; March 1, 2019.
Rule 3 is patterned after Fed.R.App.P. 3. Subdivision (a) was amended, effective Oct 1, 2014, to require filing of the notice of appeal with the clerk of the supreme court rather than the clerk of district court. Timely filing of the notice of appeal is required to give the supreme court jurisdiction over the appeal. Any required docket fee must be paid before the appeal will be filed. After a party files a notice of appeal, the clerk of the supreme court sends notice to the district court clerk.
It should be noted, Rule 10(b) requires proof of service of the order for transcript and a copy of the stipulation of excluded portions, if any, to be filed with the notice of appeal, Rule 12(a) requires the docket fee to accompany the filing of the notice of appeal, and Rule 7 requires a bond for costs or equivalent security be filed with the notice of appeal in civil cases.
Subdivision (a) provides failure to follow any rule may result in dismissal of the appeal, an award of costs, or other appropriate action.
Subdivision (c) was amended, effective March 1, 2019, to require the appellant in all appeals include a concise preliminary list of the issues on appeal in the notice of appeal.
Subdivision (c) was amended, effective Oct 1, 2014, to require the appellant in a civil action or post-conviction proceeding to include a preliminary list of the issues on appeal with the notice of appeal. The purpose of the requirement is to provide the court information to make a preliminary determination whether oral argument is unnecessary. In this list, the appellant is expected to provide the court notice of the issues of which the appellant is aware at the time the notice of appeal is filed.
Subdivision (d) was amended, effective March 1, 1999, to allow copies to be sent via a third-party commercial carrier as an alternative to mail.
Subdivision (d) was amended, effective Oct 1, 2014, to require the clerk of the supreme court to notify the clerk of district court of the filing of the notice of appeal.
Paragraph (d)(4) requires the title of the action to remain the same on appeal. Consistent with N.D.R.App.P. 1(c), the party who first files the notice of appeal must be designated as the appellant in the title and the responding party must be designated as the appellee.
Rule 3 was amended, effective March 1, 2003, in response to the December 1, 1998, amendments to Fed.R.App.P. 3. The language and organization of the rule were changed to make the rule more easily understood and to make style and terminology consistent throughout the rules.
Rule 3 was amended, effective Oct 1, 2014, to replace "supreme court clerk" with "clerk of the supreme court" and "paper" with "document."
Rule 3 was amended, effective, April 8, 2024, upon the adoption of the supreme court’s electronic filing system. Under the rule, parties are required to serve notice of appeal on each party or party’s counsel of record.
SOURCES: Supreme Court Rulemaking of March 12, 2024: Joint Procedure Committee Minutes of September 26, 2013, pages 14-15; September 22-23, 2005, page 25; September 23-24, 1999, page 10; January 29-30, 1998, page 21; February 19-20, 1987, pages 4-5; September 18-19, 1986, pages 12-13; May 25-26, 1978, page 3; March 16-17, 1978, page 1; January 12-13, 1978, pages 2-3; September 15-16, 1977, pages 4-5. Fed.R.App.P. 3; § 3.13(b) ABA Standards Relating to Appellate Courts (Approved Draft, 1977).
STATUTES AFFECTED:
SUPERSEDED: N.D.C.C. § § 28-18-09, 28-27-05, 28-27-26, 29-28-05, 29-28-20 and 29-28-21.
CROSS REFERENCE: N.D.R.App.P. 1 (Scope of Rules), N.D.R.App.P. 7 (Bond for Costs on Appeal in Civil Cases) , N.D.R.App.P. 10 (The Record on Appeal) , N.D.R.App.P. 11 (Transmission and Filing of the Record) , N.D.R.App.P. 12 (Docketing the Appeal) , and N.D.R.App.P. 31 (Filing and Service of Briefs) ; N.D.R.Civ.P. 54(b) (Judgment Upon Multiple Claims or Involving Multiple Parties).